Chapter 547: Monster (1/2)

Zac's danger sense was screaming for him to watch out, but he didn’t need a sixth sense to realize that he was in trouble. He immediately activated [Hatchetman’s Spirit] while the emerald leaves of [Nature’s Barrier] exploded out from his body, covering him from every direction.

The spectral forest rose around him as well, but Zac’s worries only intensified when he saw that the trees and leaves of his two skills were quickly stopped in their tracks as well. The leaves just froze in the air, utterly incapable of intercepting any attacks. He tried to look around in search of a threat, but he found himself stuck in position as well, no longer able to move at all.

The war was still raging in the distance though, proving that time hadn't really stopped. It seemed that the effect only reached 30 meters or so judging by the movement of the grass on the ground. It was an extremely uncomfortable experience to somehow be out of sync with the world around him. It felt a bit like when the world froze as the Chaos Pattern emerged during the tower, but he also got a similar feeling like when the Karmic Cultivator of the Hayner Clan tried to control his movements.

However, he could at least be certain that it wasn’t the System who was messing with him. A large hooded being had appeared in the sky, reaching over twenty meters into the air. Zac tried to discern its features, but it actually looked like it didn’t have a face. In place of facial features, there was just a swirling void.

It held some weird brass contraption that seemed to contain the mysteries of the universe itself, and it felt like it was this item that was rooting him in place. Zac couldn’t be sure, but he believed that the skill both contained a hint of both Space and Karma. Zac guessed that it was the avatar of some sort of ultimate technique, and going by the types of energies there was one clear suspect; The Dominators.

Zac was quickly proven right when he finally spotted the source of the restraints, an unassuming Zhix wearing the standard combat regalia of the Zhix War Council Army. However, instead of the short spears or daggers that the Zhix favored, he was instead wielding a pitch-black spear of full length that hummed with power.

The reason Zac knew this spear-wielding Zhix was his attacker was simple; he couldn’t sense the warrior's aura. It was just like when he first met Inevitability, it was almost like there was no one standing in front of him. However, the Zhix warrior was very much alive, and he stepped into the locked zone and started making his way toward Zac.

Zac strained to rip himself free, but he couldn’t even begin amassing any power in his limbs. It felt like he was trying to overturn the fundamental laws of the universe by moving, he glanced at the Zhix with some incredulity. How was he this strong? The strength of this restraining skill meant two things.

First of all, he could pretty much be sure that he was dealing with Harbinger, the last of the three elite Dominators. He had already met the other two, and the presumed Dominators beneath the three leaders were over 15 levels behind. There was no way someone at level 85 would be able to unleash a force of this magnitude.

Secondly, the Dominator was likely burning his life-force to deal with him. Zac knew that the Dominators were strong, but there shouldn't be such a disparity that he couldn't even lift his fingers in response. There was also a familiar aura on him, reminding him of that old warrior among the Berum Resistance who sacrificed his life to let them assault the Nenothep mountain.

Messing with life-force wasn't something that people could do willy-nilly. First of all, you generally needed some sort of Berserker skill to tap into the core of your being. Using such a thing was essential to sacrifice 800 warriors to kill 1000. It wasn't a tap you could turn on and off, but something that had a large risk of killing or crippling your cultivation. Zac knew he was an exception of sorts with how the Shard worked.

Harbinger was going a step further, putting everything on the line.

However, Zac didn’t feel hopeless as there were no doubt limitations to a skill or treasure as powerful as this. As expected, not only did Harbinger have some problems pushing through the spatial lock himself, but the Avatar was slowly dissipating in the sky.

A quick calculation proved that Zac would get skewered before the lock dissipated though, and he frantically looked for a solution. A glance toward Thea showed that she was trapped as well, but she was thankfully at the edge of the sphere. There was no way that Harbinger would have time to target them both as he could only move at a slow walk.

The Cosmic Energy felt like syrup in his body, and Zac wasn’t really able to rotate it with the momentum needed to activate his skills. However, he had actually already activated two of them, and Zac gave a command to the divine tree stalwartly standing behind him.

The ceremonial band on the tree trunk snapped, and a shield started to form around him. However, just the edges had time to materialize before it was frozen as well, essentially looking like a hollow ring completely incapable of defending anyone. Zac wanted to swear when he saw the scene, but he was unable to form the words.

A defensive talisman fizzled the next moment as well, proving that the restrictions didn't only apply to his skills.

Harbinger seemed to have expected the failures, and a small smile crept up across his face as he closed in on Zac. His spear moved in slow-motion, but it slowly angled itself to begin a mighty jab aimed straight at his throat. The Dominator was going for an instant kill.

Real worry finally started to grip Zac's heart as one back-up plan after another had failed. He had initially believed that he would always be able to flee with the help of his newly acquired escape talismans, but he wasn't so sure any longer after seeing how nothing seemed to work inside this field.

However, a shudder in his mind suddenly made his eyes light up. Most things were frozen in place, but there were exceptions. No matter what rules or Dao that were the basis for Harbingers skills, how could they trump the concepts of Creation and Oblivion. The two remnants were completely unaffected inside their prison, and the mysterious energies that had infiltrated his soul moved about as usual as well.

Wasn’t this a perfect occasion to try out something he had been holding on to up till now?